Karol G, who’s facing a copyright infringement lawsuit centering on ‘Gatúbela.’ Photo Credit: Junta de Andalucía
Is Karol G’s “Gatúbela” infringing on a third-party beat? An El Salvador-based producer believes so, and he’s fired off a firmly worded lawsuit as a result.
That producer, Alfr3d Beats, and Florida-based Jack Hernandez (who owns a company called Ocean Vibes Music Publishing) just recently submitted the complaint to a Florida federal court.
Besides Karol G, Maldy, and Universal Music itself, the straightforward infringement action names as defendants the co-writers on 2022’s “Gatúbela.” At present, the much-streamed effort is approaching 500 million Spotify plays.
But according to the filing parties here, “by every method of analysis,” the work “is a forgery” of “Punto G,” which plaintiff Alfr3d Beats is said to have released a month and change before “Gatúbela” debuted.
Still live on platforms including YouTube, “Punto G,” its creator makes clear in the appropriate video’s description, is free to incorporate into non-commercial projects. However, commercial usages would require explicit permission.
Running with the point, the suit maintains in more words that “Gatúbela” producer DJ Maff was subscribed to Alfr3d Beats’ YouTube channel when “Punto G” went live. From there, Maff allegedly brought the beat to Karol G, passed it off as his own, and then incorporated it into the song.
Unsurprisingly, the plaintiffs went ahead and cited the findings of an “expert musicologist” in support of their position. As many know, these findings – often submitted by both sides in involved copyright showdowns – aren’t exactly rare.
In any event, as laid out in the complaint, the plaintiffs’ “highly regarded musicology expert” compared the works and found that “both the main synthesizer riff and vocal chorus melody of Gatúbela are extremely similar to the synth melody” in “Punto G.”
Additionally, “such similarities would not have occurred by chance alone; and such similarities cannot be explained away by prior art,” per the legal text.
More interesting and unique than these details is the aforementioned DJ Maff’s social-media follow-up to Alfr3d Beats when accused of lifting “Punto G.”
According to the suit, Alfr3d promptly discovered and then commented (on Maff’s Instagram, in a post previewing “Gatúbela”) about the alleged infringement; in a since-deleted response, Maff allegedly asked the peeved producer not to “tell anybody” about the purported infringement.
Capped off with a laughing emoji, the response (though admittedly ill-advised) may not have been a serious reply to the allegations. After that, the two continued the conversation via direct messages, when Maff allegedly brushed off the possible similarities and said he’d created the beat some nine months beforehand, the suit shows.
All told, the plaintiffs claim these remarks amount to “written admissions of guilt,” and they’re seeking at least $6 million in damages for the alleged infringement.
Content shared from www.digitalmusicnews.com.